Tiếng Việt
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Zuellig Pharma, one of Asia’s leading healthcare services groups, together with the National Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals (NICVB) and the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) announced a US$600,000 project to expand access to vaccines in Vietnam, especially in remote areas.
Zuellig Pharma will contribute the eZCooler, an innovative temperature-controlled packaging solution to maintain product quality during transportation. The company will also cooperate with the relevant authorities in Vietnam to provide training to the medical prevention departments’ employees in six provinces on international standards and goods storage practices for cold chain supply management and the use of the eZCooler.
Through this project, Zuellig Pharma hopes to affirm its mission of making healthcare more accessible after 20 years of entering the Vietnam market. The multinaltional company started almost a hundred years ago and has grown to become a US$13 billion business with over 13,000 employees. Their people serve over 350,000 medical facilities in 13 markets across Asia.
John Davison, Chief Executive Officer of Zuellig Pharma, said that the project aims at creating a premise for the sustainable development of the cold chain supply chain in Vietnam to benefit the Vietnamese community.
Looking back on the past 20-year journey of successful business in Vietnam, what are the most impressive milestones of your company?
John Davison: Aside from being one of the largest multinational healthcare services providers in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry in Vietnam, Zuellig Pharma also carries out numerous corporate social responsibility activities, and works to promote the development of the pharmaceutical industry in Vietnam together with the Ministry of Health.
In 2016, we invested US$20 million in opening the Tan Tao II warehouse. That is a cutting-edge facility utilizing sophisticated solar technology and thermal isolation systems to ensure product integrity.
The warehouse located on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City is ideal for transporting products to the Mekong as well as Central and North areas of the country. Vietnam’s geography is really challenging for logistics.
In addition, we are very proud and happy to partner with the Ministry of Health, NICVB and NIHE on establishing the pilot for the national vaccines program which has benefitted millions of women and children. And our innovative eZCooler technology is expected to ensure the highest standards of the cold chain for vaccines, hopefully, better contributing to the national vaccines program.
How do the advantages of eZCooler outweigh traditional cold chain storage solutions?
John Davison: It is essential that vaccines are stored continuously at a temperature of between 2°C to 8°C. Any deviation or interruption in the cold chain from production, storage, transport and use can potentially damage the integrity of the vaccine, resulting in reduced efficacy and safety in treatment.
eZCooler is a sophisticated new packaging solution that ensures the integrity of temperature-sensitive products to the last mile of transportation. The solution is designed and manufactured using a single insulation system to maintain a specific pharmaceutical temperature for up to five days, making healthcare more accessible to places across Asia, especially in remote or rural areas.
It also ensures the rigorous compliance with regulations and product integrity, is environmentally and economically friendly, as well as offers customizable volumes.
It appears that the project to support enhancing the cold storage of vaccine will be implemented in the coming time. What is the actual meaning of this project for general vaccination activities?
John Davison: It is estimated that 3 million people in the world die every year because of not being able to get a vaccine. Half of those people are children and it seems to be a tragedy that they are not able to get basic medicines and vaccines that can help them protect themselves from diseases.
By co-operating with NICVB and NIHE, we are doing our part and contributing to the national vaccines program in Vietnam to bring more healthcare to more people in the community.
We are doing our best to bring advanced technologies from other countries to Vietnam. I expect that the entire Vietnam healthcare community can benefit from that, learn from the pilot program and we can support the expansion of the service across the whole country.
After providing support for 6 provinces, namely Hai Duong, Bac Ninh, Quang Ninh, Ha Giang, Son La and Yen Bai, in the project, does the company intend to support other provinces in Vietnam?
John Davison: Sure, we are looking at and understanding the results of the pilot program, working with the Ministry of Health, NICVB, and NIHE on future ideas.
I hope that other partners in the industry can also join and support us on this journey. We’d like to set examples with these six provinces first and hope that eventually people from the other provinces of the S-shaped country can receive our support.
What are the next community support activities of Zuellig Pharma in Vietnam?
John Davison: We have historically done quite a bit of support. We helped medical students by supplying books for their study. We also had many activities in various locations in which we have warehouses and our partners.
In the future, we would like to continue our mission of making healthcare more accessible. But for now, we are currently focusing on making the national vaccines program a great success.
Thank you very much!